News Archives

News Archives - February 12, 2001 - April 1, 2001

International EP OutThe international versions of the Zeus Enhancement Pack, containing the Adventure Editor, some more sandbox games, and one complete new adventure, are now available for download. Click here to check them out.

Compete like an EgyptianThis newsflash is brought to you courtesy of our sister site Pharaoh Heaven:

Registration is now open for our latest Pharaoh competition, brought to you courtesy of Angels Gustavia and Baltic, and Cherub Bradius. Click here to find what it's all about, and head over here to register your interest in participating.

"Poseidon - Zeus Add-on annoncÚ pour juillet 2001"That's an interesting little tidbit shown on this page. So, does that mean we've got a Zeus expansion pack coming out this July? Of course, Impressions are remaining characteristically tight-lipped on the matter - here's what Kraken had to say about it:

As usual, we don't discuss hypothetical products until they are formally announced on our own website.

There's also mention of a "Pack Zeus", coming out in October. Presumably this is the add-on packaged with the original game.

Contest Time!Degas has decided that it's time to get the proverbial ball rolling on the Zeus contest season:

CRITERIA:

ADVENTURE: Perseus and Medusa (shipped on the game CD)

CLASSES: There will be two classes of competition: Expert and Novice. Experts will be required to complete the adventure using no difficulty setting lower than Olympian. Novices can use no difficulty setting lower than Hero.

WINNING CONDITIONS: The shortest elapsed times to complete the adventure shall be declared the winners in their respective Classes.

German EP out!Thanks to Sinuhe for letting me know that Sierra.de has decided that our German friends don't have to wait any longer to get their hands on the Zeus Enhancement Pack. On the other end of this link, you'll find it up and ready for download.

Up for a challenge?If so, then check out this forum thread, which contains proposals for a possible Zeus contest. Feedback is needed, however, to see whether such a contest inspires interest amongst you, the great Zeus-playing public. So, if you've got a moment, please check out the above link and submit some comments .

Adventures up for DownloadWhilst browsing around the ZH download section, I noticed that we've got our first couple of adventures ready and waiting for you to download. There are also a couple of single episodes in there too .

We Love Rabble!Today for your Sunday reading enjoyment, we have posted a new article by Skimmer entitled "The Beauty of Rabble". Ever wondered why you should bother to have any rock throwers in your army when it could be full of soldiers with gleaming breastplates or sturdy steeds?

Well, the ability to lob pebbles at enemies can have its benefits - click here to find out what they are.

Adventure Editor: How to do ColoniesZH forum regular Nightwolf has slapped up a great little guide on how best to put colonies in your custom adventures. It's a long one, so I'll only put a teaser here:

1) create your world map -- add all your cities and change the names to whatever you want, set the type for each one (Parent, Colony, Ally, Vassal, Rival, etc.). For all of the ones you have set as 'colony', set them as 'inactive' if you want the player to be able to establish them during the game; ie, if you want the player to be able to go in and build in the colony.

Here's a tip for those of you creating custom adventures: use the largest possible map for your parent city.

The default map size you get when you open up the map editor is a "medium" map. To change the map size, click on "file-new map" in the menu. Then choose the map size you want. Most Impressions adventures use the "enormous" map for their parent city and even for most colonies.

**Important Note** Doing this will delete the existing map and start you with a new, blank one. So you should make the change before spending lots of time working on the map.

1st Custom Episode!And you thought I'd given up posting news here for Lent, right ?

The first custom episode has been thrust willingly into the download section. A single mission rather than an episode, here's the description submitted by the creator, Dthind:

This is my first attempt at an episode (i.e. single level). Create a Directory in Zeus/Adventues called 'ambras world'. Extract the zip files into this directory. You must have the 1.1 patch to play this adventure. The adventure is intended for players beyond the mortal level. I enclosed all files, so you can edit this if you want. I would request you NOT view the settings before you play. I am aware this is NOT perfect, but I enjoyed playing it, as did my beta testers. Good Luck Brother, and fight the Power.

The Cost of BriberyKraken just hit this ZH forum thread to elaborate a little upon how the cost of bribery i made up (there are some comments about auto-defend in there too):

Autodefend works better in version 1.1. Previously your company commanders became thoroughly confused when invaders arrived by sea. They have since undergone some training, and are less apt to muster their troops on the wrong side of the city.

Regarding the original question: heck, I don't know. But the gods sent the great Solomon, programmer of Zeus' combat stuff, into my office as I was typing, and Solomon spake thusly:

"25 is the cost per figure for infantry and rabble, and the cost for infantry and rabble shall be 25. Horsemen add 50 per figure present. Ships add another 50, unless it is some other number. Not even Solomon the Wise knoweth the cost to bribe a ship. These prices do increase with difficulty level."

Strategy Game of the Year?A big sloppy kiss goes out to Angel Thunder (umm...let's not go that far, a simple 'Thank you' will suffice -Ed) for pointing out to me that Zeus is nominated as Strategy Game of the Year by (wait for it, this is a mouthful) the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.

Click here to take a look at a .pdf file showing what Zeus is up against (some pretty stiff competition there).

Submission of Adventures for DownloadThanks to David Masters for reminding me that, unless you adventure creators want people to edit your adventures, the only files you need to include in the adventure zip file are the .pak, .mp3 and .txt ones.

As for extracting, either of the following procedures can be applied:

1) using WinZip, open the zip file you want to extract and play, and click the 'Extract' button... down in the right corner is a button that says 'Create New Folder' -- use that, and create a new folder (usually named after the adventure you're extracting) in the Zeus\Adventures directory in your game. Extract the zip to that directory, and you're ready to go.

*OR*

2a) in Windows Explorer, find your game directory and click on the Zeus\Adventures directory so the folder icon is highlighted.2b) under the File menu, choose 'New' ---> 'Folder'2c) the new folder will appear in your Zeus\Adventures directory, labelled "new", with the label highlighted -- name it whatever you want, though usually you will name it after the adventure you're downloading, and hit Enter.2d) extract the zip file into that new folder.

EP Follow-upA quick follow-up on some matters arising from the release of the EP an hour or so ago.

Our download section will now be receiving submissions of scenarios and custom adventures.

Custom adventures created in the Adventure Editor can only be played by people who are also running the Enhancement Pack. So, everyone without the US version will have to wait until March 31st to play these adventures.

There are now 2 new forums - one for map editing, and another where people who wish to collaborate in the creation of an adventure can meet up and make arrangements so to do.

I think that just about covers it. Here's hoping that, if the non-US EP versions can't be released before March 31st, Impressions will find a way of letting people play custom adventures without it.

Adventure Editor Out!Forum Regular Caylynn spotted this page over at GameSpot, where you can download the Zeus Adventure Editor. Interestingly enough, there's no news of this at the official site at the time of posting (though it was announced an hour ago over at VE.

Oh well...everybody pile over to GameSpot - providing you have the US version, since that's all you can get at the moment. Here's the official word on that:

This version of the Official Zeus Enhancement Pack will work ONLY with the US version of Zeus: Master of Olympus. Trying to install it on other versions may have detrimental effects on the game. International versions of the enhancement pack will be available for download at the end of March.

End of March? A lot of people aren't going to be happy about that...

Update: The official site expands on the 'end of March' bit, announcing European versions will be ready on March 31st.

Zeus EP FridayThanks to Secateur for letting me know that Impressions have announced that the EP will be available for download this Friday. Here's the blurb from the official site:

If you're here looking for an editor for Zeus: Master of Olympus, you're a little early. Look for an important announcement about Zeus on all major gaming sites this Friday, and save some room on your hard drive for a sweet treat from Impressions. Keep yourself safe from Eros' arrows and have a happy Valentines Day.

Servers will be down this 'Saturday'Our ISP company is going to be upgrading their power systems this weekend. Since upgrading their power supplies require the power to be turned off for safety reasons, ALL of HeavenGames will be inaccessible this Saturday night, February 17th, between the hours of 11pm - 1am Eastern Standard Time.

Toon ContestAngel Park over at Empire Earth Heaven is having a wee Toon Contest right now. Here's what's on offer:

Every Saturday a winner will be chosen from pictures sent during that week. People may send at the most three toons per week and may resend pictures again the next week. Winners will receive a special Empire Earth Calendar signed by Rick Goodman and a chance for the grand prize. Fans only win one calendar. The last week (July 28, 2001) of the contest the top three people will be chosen from all the winners and will recieve special prizes from Stainless Steel Studios. The #1 winner will be named "Master Empire Earth Toon Maker" and will recieve one additional prize.